


Seize the Moment

by peoriapeoria



Series: The Vita-Ray AU [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: AU, F/M, Skinny Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 21:52:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Steve Rogers isn't Star Spangled but he certainly has a plan. The vita-ray didn't change him as much, AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seize the Moment

He asks her out. It is scarier than jumping out of a plane but he does ask Agent Margaret Carter out when he's back in London after a debrief. She says yes. He might make Bucky ready to kill him for nerves, but at least it's just later that night.

It's going pretty awful until Peggy clasps his hand and tells him "You talk to me fine when you're stretched over a map." He knows he must be a picture when he does that, and not the way he thinks Peggy is when her skirt skims... Not the right time to be thinking about that. He asks about her before the war, since she's seen the alleys he'd been beat up in.

He doesn't get how anyone could fault her for being Peggy. Oh, she's pretty headstrong, but she backs it up. "When did you learn to throw a punch like you gave Hodge?" 

She smiles. "When my father decided "I can no more divert you than the waters of the Nile, so I had best teach you to fight and not lose." he first taught me to box and then dirty tricks."

Steve figures Hodge was lucky he was on base in full daylight. He wants to ask her to dance, but is afraid he'll step on her feet. "I'll lead, if that's all right with you." It's beautiful, and she does it so it's not obvious. There's an air raid siren during their second dance.

Bucky ribs him as they go back to the war. He's better now than he was coming back from the Hydra installation. Steve likes the missions he can have Bucky in a tree or on a cliff as their sniper. He wants his friend safe, but not at the risk of the the other men or the objective. There's not much safe about what they do.

He's wearing armor. Howard's invention. He's asked for it for the men, and Howard's pointed out that it doesn't work well enough for normal people. He's carried bruises until the end of the day, and it's been punched through many times. Steve is thankful for the armor, he gets thrown about by explosions with more than some frequency and it takes some of the force. Right now he's wearing it under his 'civilian disguise', which admittedly hangs large held together by his belt. The armor leaves plenty of play.

They raid for weeks at a time. Jim's got one-time pads to encrypt straight forward intel. When they come in, people that don't know them greet Bucky, or sometimes Falsworth as the officer in charge. He doesn't care that he's never their first choice, but just once... America has a long way to go before Gabe or Jim would be offhand possibilities.

Bucky asks Steve about his plans when they head to London. Some things just can't be done by transmission. He prods about Agent Carter. Bucky has tried imparting all his knowledge of dames onto Steve; the dance lessons are about all Steve trusts. Oh, it's not that Bucky is trying to get him into trouble, but there is a gulf between the girls that dated Bucky and snubbed him (not that they were the same girls) and Peggy.

The attack on the train isn't fubar, they do get Zola. Steve also spends several tense moments hanging from the side of the train rolled back like a sardine can. Bucky finds an attachment point and then hauls Steve back in.

"Stop being coy with Carter." Steve knows Bucky has rather a two-track mind, but this is nuts. "This is war. Either one of you--" Bucky pauses and Steve prays too. "She likes you, I don't know why, but she does, and I know that you're besotted as little as you act on it.

Steve proposes after Zola has spilled his guts, desperate to get away from Schmidt. She smiles, but it's not a good smile. She at least finds a private spot to tell him no.

"Steve. How could I say yes when--" There's nowhere that private in a bunker. They didn't look much different than their usual consultations. They wait for the intruder's footsteps to die out. She kisses him. They never do that here. "Steve, good thing your tactics in war are better than in love. You have downtime until the morning, how do you want to spend it?"

"That's not a no?" He smiled as she gave him her "you're not stupid, catch up already" eyebrow. "You had a condition. How about we have dinner together and we can discuss?"

"Better."

It hadn't occurred to Steve that Peggy lived in London. "It's too far on a daily basis." They'd brought food, though there were some staples. She fed him a cracker with a dollop of jam on it. He wanted to know how to get from where they were to a yes. It had seemed impossible to find a gal that wanted him, and Peggy was so far outside of his experience before his enlistment.

They ate their dinner and worked on several tins and jars from the pantry. He was game for what she wanted part of but couldn't waste what would be left over. He snuck bites when he wanted her lips. He loved her sitting on his knees. It didn't feel as ridiculous as it probably looked. They caught up on the petty vexations and amusements as they ate and took pleasure in each other. They finished the food and Peggy had her hand on his tie. "You said my proposal was premature."

"Interesting word choice." She shifted into his lap.

"Oh." He hadn't considered, he hadn't wanted to be disrespectful, he set his palms on her thighs. He had a skin in his jacket. They still had a war to win. His father had died of mustard gas though not before Steve had been born. He stopped them when he might have some trouble walking. "Which bed is freshest?"

She laughed and pulled him after her. Right, she wasn't improvising. The room had blackout curtains, but it was otherwise, otherwise it was better than the combined contents of every apartment he'd ever lived in. She flicked one of his buttons. Steve looked back at her.

"The look on that Sergeant when you handed him that flag." She kissed him. Steve was so glad his asthma was behind him. He slipped his fingers between them and worked free buttons.

Peggy worked her hands onto his chest. They got down to their underclothes, and Steve made sure things were thrown so they wouldn't be too wrinkled later. Peggy swept his legs out from under him and pulled as she dropped back onto the bed. She was a vision, and he touch.

She was kneading his ass. He wanted to kiss her breasts. He got her brassiere unfastened.  
Peggy pushed down his shorts and gripped him. He nuzzled her neck thinking the least sexy things he could that wouldn't put him totally off. 

"Steve, look at me." She still had him in one fist and guided him by the cheek with the other.

"You're gorgeous." He touched her hair as he stayed propped over her. He could do this one-armed, he needed to put the skin on.

Peggy took care of it and then pulled him down with her knees. Wow. He needed to touch her, kiss her, move. Steve did all three. The sounds she made, he managed to hold on until she'd gone through a few waves of those noises and then rushed into the sheath.

"Nice as this is" she moved and yeah, she liked things, "that will need to be disposed of before it slips." Peggy kissed his cheek warm with a blush.

They cleaned up and Steve put his boxers back on. He drifted his hands over Peggy. She guided one down between her legs. The sounds were inspiring and, well that was embarrassing. He'd just had the one in his pocket. He started to pull away.

"Rogers, you aren't dismissed." That was going to give him a problem later but right now it sizzled. "Recall that I knew what I was planning."

Right. He was going to claim if asked poor blood circulation to his brain. He hoped Peggy would just know that he was distracted and not call him on it.

"So, this is promising." This time went a bit slower, and was surprisingly better. Steve pulled Peggy onto him as he rolled onto his back. He arched up into her, holding onto her waist. He dropped his thumb and she seemed to like that.

They cleaned up again after their respective completions and this time slept. Steve liked having her shoulderblades against his cheek.

They ate before dawn and had another go before Steve washed up and dressed. "Good as it looks on you, try to be a little less satisfied. I'll see you in the tactical room later."

Falsworth and he bunked with the rest of the team. Likely he'd be the only one in his bunk this morning. He kissed Peggy quickly then stood for review. "Off you go." He let himself out into the blue grey of morning, pink just starting to tinge the sky as he got back.

Later, they determined that Steve would enter under the cover of weapons rolling out. Schmidt knew that they had Zola, and he'd have to assume he'd talked. The rest of the team would zipline through the windows, which might have an element of surprise. They had Hydra weapons, so it wasn't like they were counting on surprise for more than a second or two. The rest of the SSR force would attack more conventionally, but with as few casualties as they could manage.

Stark had studied the assassin's minisub. He judged that Zola was too tidy to not keep using very similar, Steve didn't understand most of the rest. But the gist of it was clear, scientists had signatures just as much as artists did and it took quite a bit to shake habits. He'd given Steve charges for the bombers. They'd been named after cities. Who knew what the Hydra rank and file thought.

The plan didn't survive contact with the enemy. Oh, Steve did get in, but he had to get captured to do it, and he figured these were men like the days of Rome when lions got fat. They wanted to see Schmidt boil over, and yes, Steve was the man for that job. He was almost everything the man despised and he was kicking his ass.

The Commandos came through right on schedule, and Steve took out his guards and grabbed a weapon. Schmidt cut through his own forces rather than slow down. Steve needed to stop the Valkyrie.

Steve was running as fast as he could but the plane was building speed to take off. And then the longest saloon car paced him and Steve vaulted to stand in the shotgun seat. "Colonel."

"Rogers, you will have to jump straight up to get into that plane." The Colonel pushed the gas to the floor and shifted through more gears than a car should have.

Steve had a moment to notice Peggy in the backseat with a Luger. She was reloading it. He kissed her and then it was time. He jumped.

She looked at the Hydra weapon Steve had left her.

He headed for the flight deck, taking out men as quietly as he could. The plane still made a fair amount of noise even without conventional engines. Eventually he got caught. Schmidt scowled when he saw who they dragged in.

"How?! You dare--"

"Bullies are the same anywhere." Steve used his head and sprung into Schmidt's ruined face. It hurt, vibrated down Steve's spine, but Schmidt was dazed, and their strength was matched. They caromed around, smashing equipment. Schmidt broke Steve's hold and opened God's own judgment on himself by picking up a cube in his bare hand. What happened was that terrible. Schmidt went slow, like he was torn from the inside out.

He turned and no one else on the bridge was alive. He turned the radio on. "Jim, I'm going to see what I can bail in, try to keep them from shooting me down." Steve looked at the trajectory, shifted the controls and snapped the column. It would plow into the ocean.

He found St. Louis still in the hanger. He pulled the wires Howard thought controlled offense and got into the cockpit. He launched or rather dropped. He was able to keep the bomber over the Atlantic by keeping the stick right. He wasn't a pilot but he had learned enough to lose some altitude and speed. Soon he'd be seeing if Howard's newest armor had protected his chute

It did and the Merchant Marines picked him up without him getting too waterlogged. He passed the time to transfer drawing pinups with about every pen and pencil onboard.

He handed the Luger back to Peggy, grip over his left wrist.

"Ask me again."

He looked confounded then smiled. "Margaret Carter, will you marry me?"

"Yes." She was a little startled when he picked her up and spun, but not so much she couldn't plant a kiss on him.

"We'll just hold your bachelor party without you, Steve." Bucky led the other Commandos away to their new bar.

"I'm not giving away the groom." Colonel Phillips strode off.

Steve chuckled. "Do you have a date in mind?"

She smiled but didn't tell him just then.


End file.
